Kitan Oladapo scouting report: Exploring the Oregon State safety's strengths and weaknesses

Not being ranked by the recruiting services back in 2018, Kitan Oladapo only saw action in one game across his first two years with the Beavers and utilizing a redshirt. In 2020, he did start one of six games and showed his value, with 26 tackles, 2.5 of those for loss, two sacks, one forced fumble and passes broken up each.

That earned Kitan Oladapo a starting gig in all but one game overall of the 13 each these last three years. Over that time, he combined for 223 tackles, 12.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, three picks and 22 PBUs, being named honorable mention All-Pac-12 twice and then second-team in 2023.

Profile: 6-foot-2, 215 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Kitan Oladapo's scouting report

Run defense & blitzing:

• Does a great job of involving himself in the run fit, as his man is motioned in tight or the C-gap opens up playing on the edge of the box
• Shows some sudden hands to evade slot receivers trying to occupy him in the run game and has a real knack for shooting the lane between bodies working out to the perimeter
• Races up against screen passes and perimeter runs with conviction once the picture clears up and he knows that’s definitely where the ball is going
• Takes excellent angles from depth and delivers some pop on quite a few hits at the end of those – Lays the wood on running backs hitting cutbacks towards him
• Highly effective open-field tackler, who clutches the legs of ball-carriers and rarely allows them to get away from him anymore, missing a solid 10.3% of attempted stops since 2022
• Earned the highest run-defense grade of any safety with 100+ snaps last season (91.3)
• Forced a massive fumble in the 2023 Washington, when RB Dillon Johnson was about to finish off a long run in the end-zone and Oladapo swiped it out from behind
• Turns a tight corner when blitzing off the edge, often times after they dropped him down onto the edge of the box

Zone coverage:

• Has quality experience in a split-safety structured defense, where he was asked to cone, bracket, cloud or match receivers down the field
• Displays plus awareness for route patterns and where his eyes should be/progress towards in accordance to his responsibility
• Positions himself well in-between routes when offenses try to put him in conflict as a deep half or post defender
• Leverages the ball exceptionally well to hold completions to limited yardage
• Absolutely smacks down some receivers when he has a runway to build after seeing the pass get completed
• Times the arrival of the ball extremely well and is able to swipe it down just as the intended target gets his fingertips on it
• Also showcases impressive ball-skills to high-point passes and win at the catch-point

Man coverage:

• Looks comfortable sitting back patiently in off-man coverage against tight-ends particularly
• Yet if he recognizes altered stems on routes across the field, he’ll shuffle inside and engage, in order to not provide a step on him
• Sturdy frame to deal with guys trying to push off or swipe by him, not losing phase typically because of that
• Does a nice job of trailing motion and not get lost in traffic caught out of position as he’s forced to recover
• Comfortable flexing out wide for stretches of games when offenses spread them out
• Showcases tremendous hand-eye coordination when he’s a step behind his man but somehow is still able to locate and get a finger on the ball, rather than trying to play the hands
• Had several highly impressive one-on-one reps against tight-ends throughout Senior Bowl, in particular blanketing them on corner routes

Weaknesses:

• Lacks the high-end range to make plays on the ball outside the numbers starting from the deep post
• Can be had as a deep half defender towards the field and he has somebody breaking in front of him, whilst another receiver goes vertical
• Far lass comfortable covering guys one-on-one when he actually has to move backwards as a more traditional slot defender
• Lacks the twitchiness when he’s isolated with a receiver down the field and opens up the wrong way, to recover and close that gap before the ball arrives there
• While he’s a fundamentally sound tackler, dynamic ball-carrier can make him miss in the open field at times, because he lacks that type of quick-twitch that matches up

Kitan Oladapo's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

I’m not going to talk around this here – this is my favorite safety in the draft. I just broke down Kitan Oladapo as one of “my guys” last week and after going through the names from this class once more,

I actually moved him up a little bit further. Seeing him listed as a fifth-round pick on consensus boards is unfathomable to me. Sure, his ability to turn and run with speedy receivers could be a little better, but the 4.58 he ran at the combine isn’t representative of what you actually see on the field.

However, reading and attacking plays from depth – which is exactly how modern NFL defenses want their safeties to operate – I’m not sure there’s anybody better in both facets of the game combined than this dude, plus then he can come down and be your dime linebacker in certain packages.

This kind of feels like evaluators wanting to go away from these bigger-bodied types, who would’ve been defined as “strong safeties”, without realizing he excelled in a scheme that uses a lot more pro principles. Kitan Oladapo is who people wanted Miami’s James Williams to become and I’d happily select him in the middle of Day 2.

Grade: Late second round